Peter Avakian of Pike Creek, Delaware died in the early hours of March 13, 2019, after a long illness.
Peter was born May 15, 1933 in Tabriz, Iran, to Paul (Boghos) Avakian and Sonia Lifshitz Avakian. His family was cultured and prominent with deep roots in Armenia and Russia. After his father’s early death, Peter came to America with his family in 1946. He grew up in Englewood, NJ and attended college at the University of Rochester (B.S., 1955) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D., 1960).
Peter married his beloved wife, Barbara Loveland Avakian, in 1957. They had two daughters, Helen and Lucille. Peter began working for DuPont as a research physicist in 1961. He once surprised Barbara with a horse on her birthday; forty years later he would surprise his second wife with a kitten. Peter, Barbara and their children cherished their time together, Barbara’s Oriental rug business (an Avakian family tradition), and activities with the Unitarian church including the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science at Star Island. They would become founding members of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Mill Creek. Peter and his family traveled to Germany, Iran, India, the former Soviet Union, and other countries. In Armenia, he was pleased to find that he was no longer short.
All these pursuits outside of work should not miss the fact that Peter was a workaholic who virtually lived at DuPont, driving home at some very odd hours. Though he felt greatly honored by the friendship of black hole physicist and lifelong Unitarian John Wheeler, Peter’s love of physics did not include a paper on how to bend time. The discoveries he would publish were in his work on polymer physics and fiber optics, including papers co-authored with the late Howard Starkweather and Richard Merrifield.
Barbara died in 2000. When he retired from DuPont in 2002, Peter began a new life with marriage to long-time family friend Tatiana (Bresinsky). He educated himself in detail about aspects of science and world history with which he was previously unfamiliar. He tutored high school students, sold nutritional products out of his home, and welcomed a granddaughter in 2008.
Peter survived a ruptured brain aneurysm in 2015 to spend the next four years accompanying his wife on research trips to New York City, Philadelphia and Syracuse; attending classes at the Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning; having weekly lunches with his daughter Lucille and his granddaughter Celeste; using the gym at Performance Physical Therapy; enjoying daily walks with his wife and his dog Clyde; doing hours of yard work; paying his respects to his famous cousin George Avakian, on George’s death; and following politics, casting his final vote for the Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm election. In summer 2018, Peter traveled to New York State to surprise his daughter Helen and former son-in-law Terry Champlin as they gave a concert—an occasion he treasured. Stephen Hawking’s death exactly a year before his own caused him the most sentiment his wife ever saw. He took his walks until the last few months of his life. In keeping with Peter’s love of animals, his seventeen-year-old cat Zeno—the marital birthday kitten—was at his side together with his wife when Peter died, at home and in his sleep. He enjoyed music, learning, good food, and humor to the end. Peter spoke English, Russian, Armenian, Farsi and German and told bad jokes in all of them.
He was a member of the Brain Aneurysm Support Group at Christiana Care in Newark, whose meetings he rarely missed. His family wish to thank Dr. Barbara Albani and the rest of the Neurointerventional Department at Christiana Care, plus his other doctors and many supportive nurses, therapists and other staff, for giving him four final years of love with his family.
Peter is survived by his wife Tatiana Avakian of Pike Creek; his sister Mary Freericks of Santa Barbara, California; his daughters Helen Avakian of Madison, Wisconsin and Lucille Avakian Karnik of Newark; his granddaughter Celeste Karnik, niece Rebecca Danenberg, and nephews Darius and Paul Avakian and Charles and James Freericks; his son-in-law Rahul Karnik and Helen’s partner David Irwin; and his pets. His family also wish to recognize his devoted friends Gerard D. Moeller of Middleton, Dr. Joseph Ternes of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and Dr. William Silver of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Donations may be made to the Unitarian Universalist Society of Mill Creek at 579 Polly Drummond Hill Rd, Newark, DE 19711. A celebration of Peter’s life will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 24th at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Mill Creek.
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